The choice to induce

Patrick was taking his sweet time deciding to be born. I had everything in place. My mom arrived awaiting the day as well so that she could be here to help. Camden was born on his due date and Audrey was 2 days early, so I fully expected a similar scenario with Patrick. I have never been a huge proponent for inductions when it is just for convenience sake simply because of the added risk of c-sections or worse. So I was prepared to wait it out. I went in for my 40 week check-up and my doc said that if I wanted to be induced I could do it as early as the following day. I told her no, I was afraid of being induced.

The next day came and went. Still no contractions. I called my doc back and asked her to break everything down for me. She said that she would use a method that was a cervical softening method rather than an oxytocin method (Pitocin). This would entail me going to the hospital at night time and receiving a dose of Cytotec every two hours throughout the night. This medication is supposed to soften and dilate the cervix, and ideally, start the body into regular contractions. She explained that it was a more gentle way of induction than the Pitocin method. And because it was a low dose, oral slurry, the risk of uterine hyper-stimulation is very low.

I agonized over the decision, as my Facebook friends well know. :) I really didn't want to induce, but my help was here, and let's face it, I was ready to have the baby out of me. But the fact that I was so uncertain made me think that this was probably not what I should do. I continued to research a lot and ask a lot of people about their decisions. I decided on Wednesday the 13th to call and schedule the induction for Friday night, with the hopes that my body would just kick it into gear and labor naturally.

As luck would have it, my doctor was not working that day or the rest of the weekend for that matter. So they said that they could do it that night if I wanted. I agreed, even though I still felt so unsure. It was set up for 9:00 p.m. on 10/13. This was at about 9 a.m. I thought that if I changed my mind I would still have the rest of the day to figure that out and cancel the appointment. But within minutes I just felt relieved. I finally knew what was happening and when. It still wasn't my ideal way to do things, but I couldn't believe the relief that I felt.

Since it was the last day I would have before being tied down with a baby, I decided to take the kids to the zoo. Aaron met us there and we just took our time spending the day together as a family. We had a picnic and played at the zoo. It was really nice.

When Aaron and I arrived at the hospital that evening, he was going to drop me off at the labor and delivery door and then park the car. I told him not to bother because I wasn't in labor and I'd rather walk in with him. We checked in, got our room and waited for the process to begin. I was still a little nervous, probably because I didn't know what to expect and I was still terrified of having a horror story induction. But I have to admit that there's something to be said for being able to walk into the hospital on my own without gripping the walls during a contraction and throwing up in the bathrooms along the way. Not to mention that the car ride was far more enjoyable. There's nothing worse than driving over a bump in the road mid-contraction.

The nurse that we had was sooooooo slow with everything. She first said that before administering any of the Cytotec that she would check my cervix. So after arriving at 9:00 p.m., she finally got around to that two hours later. I was still at a 1.5, which I had been for a couple of weeks. I was given the first dose at about 11:45 p.m. Within about 15 minutes I had a couple of really strong contractions. For a while, we all thought that this was it, I would need one dose and my body was going to do the rest. That wasn't to be though. I continued to have erratic contractions throughout the night, much like I'd been having for months now. I was given three doses of the Cytotec altogether. At 6:00 a.m., I was only dilated to a three so they decided to begin Pitocin.

I was so tired at this point because although I was there overnight and had intended to sleep, it just wasn't that easy being hooked up to monitors and a blood pressure cuff squeezing me every 15 minutes. Not to mention the sporadic contractions kept me up as well as all the times the nurse came in. It seemed to me that Aaron slept great though. :)

My doctor came by and ordered the Pit to begin at a low dose. After about an hour of this, she said let's get that epidural (this is my request, I wouldn't do it any other way) and crank up the Pitocin as well as break my water. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural. I was having contractions at this point, but it was easier than with Camden or Audrey. By the time I had hit the painful contractions that I experienced with the other two I was already numb. I have to say, that is great. This was pretty darn easy.

I labored like this for a few hours. It's hard for me to even call it labor because I just laid in the bed and felt nothing while my body did the work. Compared to the other two, this was a cake walk! Finally at about 12:00 p.m. I felt the pressure and knew it was time. They called the doctor over and when it was time to push it just took once. This happened with Audrey as well. The doctor nicknamed me "The One Push Wonder."

Aaron gets a little squeamish when it comes to blood, needles, childbirth, etc. But he always does great. He just makes sure to turn his head whenever needles are present and he stays at the top end of my body. The doc asked him if he wanted to help deliver the baby. He declined, which I knew he would. The doctor then asked me if I would like to. That seemed pretty cool to me. So once his head was out I just reached down and pulled the rest of the baby out into my arms. It was pretty cool. Aaron walked away for a minute as the cord was cut and the placenta was delivered.

I held the baby while the nurses cleaned him off. Then they took him for a second to measure and weigh him. He was born at 12:23 p.m. and weighed in at 7 lbs, 13 oz. Wow, a giant!! Well, he's a giant compared to my other two! They were both just over six and a half pounds.

From this moment on I knew that this child was going to be different. I should have known that from the beginning as I had the most asymptomatic pregnancy. I didn't have a day of morning sickness with him and the heartburn didn't come until the last two months, which was completely opposite with my other two. Not to mention the other two came on their own either on time or early. This little guy was just content to be in my womb. Did I also mention that he had very little hair whereas the other two were born needing haircuts. Yep, this guy is different for sure.

He was/is perfect. His feeding latch was perfect from the first try. Aaron and I were both immediately in love with our new little addition.

So, would I induce again? I still have mixed feelings. I absolutely love how much easier it was, and that is pretty priceless in and of itself. However, I feel like I cheated in some way and robbed him of his true birthday, whatever that may have been. :)